The Energon Pub

D Banks wrote:I would really like to see Rodimus Prime make it on the Masterpiece line, But that is highly unlikely to happen. I agree that the Autobot line Desperetly needs a new mold, Hopefully Mp-07 will be as immpresive as Masterpiece Megatron is.

Here's hoping...

Ravage XK wrote:The future is bright, the future is orange. Orange capped that is!

I think the smart money would be on Soundwave as the next new design. Bad guys always seem to sell better.

I was under the impression that the Japanese prefered the Autobots.

i dont think that the line has established itself enough to really think that they are doing this in anysort of pattern. But if you must assume that they will follow a pattern than one could say it follows the following pattern...

#1 newmold autobot
#2 repaint autobot
#3 newmold con
#4 perfect autobot

#5 newmold con
#6 repaint con
#7 suspected newmold autobot
#8 suspected perfect con

however i doubt it will turn out like this.

Head Shot wrote:Unfortunately, alot of fans, worldwide, feel that the alternators/binaltechs mesh with the masterpiece line. The scales may be off, but thats just the way it is. So chances are, we are not gonna get masterpiece versions of prowl, and some of the others, unless they truly believe that it will sell. I've seen plenty of fan art that involves all the current binaltechs, standign with mp prime, and even a picture of the decepticon binaltechs/alternators standing with mp-3 starscream. Sooner or later we'll see one with mp-05 megatron and mp-03 starscream standign with those binaltechs/alterantors.

(I'm like 99% sure that Nac {although i think he might have changed his name from Nac}, has the first picture I'm talking about in his signiture.)

EDIT: lo and behold the man I am talkign about is the first poster on this page, Ravage XK.

That is very true. It's still a question of what will be the best individual figure versus what will be the best for the collection.

It's also a matter of giving the MP collection its own identity. This is why MP Starscream pissed me off so much. My feeling was that the MP line was going to capture the feeling of not only the 1984 toys, but also the 1984 cartoon. Starscream deviated from that, and now I feel he sticks out like a sore thumb. The Binaltech/Alternators line has a theme of its own, and while both collections use detailed and highly articulated figures, they both have distinct looks. As long as they can maintain that, I don't think it'll be a problem of making characters in the MP line.

Then again, I don't know. I have enough time trying to understand consumerism in my own country, let alone the market research of one on the other side of the world.

I think the general consensus is that everyone wants every single G1 recreated as an MP or BT. Whty waste time on a Jazz when we have the BT, why not do something we do not have yet. They can always come back to doing stuff over as MPs that are in the BT line later. For now, the BTs fit in smoothly enough imo.

I agree - there's very little wrong with the Binaltech line.

I see the Masterpiece line as creating some of the leading figures from the Gen 1 series. Ultra Magnus is an exception, but considering the costs of the original figure it's not surprising that he was a repaint.

Shockwave and Soundwave seem perfect for the MP line and the larger scale would enable the designers to produce something spectacular. Imagine larger scale and better detailed cassetticons!

JetfireUK wrote:I agree - there's very little wrong with the Binaltech line.

I see the Masterpiece line as creating some of the leading figures from the Gen 1 series. Ultra Magnus is an exception, but considering the costs of the original figure it's not surprising that he was a repaint.

Shockwave and Soundwave seem perfect for the MP line and the larger scale would enable the designers to produce something spectacular. Imagine larger scale and better detailed cassetticons!

Absolutely. Shockwave and Soundwave along with Ravage, Rumble and Laserbeak are a must. They might as well use the mold to pop out a Blaster as well. Throw in Astrotrain, Rodimus, Blitzwing, and the dinobots, and I would be one happy camper indeed. An Ironhide and Ratchet would be great as they got screwed over in G1.

I think the Masterpiece line is trying to create figures that are not only show accurate, but have realistic alternate forms as well. Since Grimlock, Galvatron, Shockwave and Rodimus have alt forms that are original, they have a rather niche fan base. I also think Takara's not gonna make a car-based masterpeice figure, they have the Binaltech line for that.

Nujevad wrote:I think the Masterpiece line is trying to create figures that are not only show accurate, but have realistic alternate forms as well. Since Grimlock, Galvatron, Shockwave and Rodimus have alt forms that are original, they have a rather niche fan base. I also think Takara's not gonna make a car-based masterpeice figure, they have the Binaltech line for that.

So who does that leave? Soundwave?

Soundwave would be nice, if he came with a full compliment of show accurate tapes as well.

Although I agree that some sort of Masterpiece Transformer based on an Autobot will be the next mold coming from Takara/Tomy, i don't believe it will be Grimlock.. Atleast not at first.. Grimlock is simply not that popular in Japan. He is very popular here in the States, but not so much over there..

Now Jetfire/Skyfire is very popular over in Japan, but the one who wins out hands down and completely is Rodimus Prime.. i mean, the japanese continued with the Rodimus Prime/Galvatron story line after our cartoons stopped production, and they even produced more cartoons based on Rodimus Prime, the series kept going and going and going till its final death blow in Transformers Zone..

to me thats where Generation one actually ended, wether you go by US storylines or not, to me G-1 continued on in Japan and had very interesting stories.. my wish is that we can get an exceptionally dubbed version of the Japanese series released on DVD to the US market, up through Zone, now that would be cool..

But in terms of what should be the next Masterpiece toy, that "should" be Ultra Magnus Complete.. that way they have finished what they started on ultra Magnus, and they can finally put to rest that Optimus Prime Mold once and for all... but what is more likely to happen is a production of Rodimus Prime, because the market would probably reject another Prime remold, with or without trailer, since there are so many reproductions of that particular mold already floating around.. MP-01, MP-04, and the overproduced and widely scattered 20th anniversary with lobotomized smoke stacks..and the ultra cartoon colored 25th dvd anniversary version with cheap Non Peter Culler sounding base..

So what makes sense to bolster the market of the G-1 fan and sell a new and high quality transformer mold.. well Rodimus Prime.. Japanese fan favorite, and the ultra cool successor to Optimus Prime, not to mention the similarity on the paint scheme which will come on the heels of the Popularity of the Movie version Optimus prime..with flaming paint scheme... i think its a marketing strategy that will work in Takara/Tomys favor, and I think that their executives are thinking the same thing.. so my money is on Rodimus Prime as the next autobot Masterpiece transformer..

Still if we are looking towards what Autobots Takara could and should do, some one here said that most of the bots had been touched on in the binaltech series.. and thats true, sorta.. I do think that the licenses that Takara had on the original cars from the 80s are still there and that if they decided to reproduce them in masterpiece, like they did with the reissues, they could get away with it, as long as they weren't modern versions of those particular cars..

but if they did do a BT version of all the "original" 80s cars and called them masterpiece.. it would kinda be cheap in my view.. but I'd still buy them regardless...lets face it MP-03 Starscream is in Binal tech size.. does that show that we could see BT autobots under the masterpiece banner coming someday? who knows.. its definately a possibility..

I for one see Ultra Magnus as a good contender, after Rodimus Prime..the dinobots are a good choice for later creations, Starsaber is a definate. I mean come on, he has one of the most complex transformations ever, and not to mention that he hasn't had a brilliant transforming figure since his originial release.. I mean he is the best and greatest choice for a Masterpiece, and especially if they could work out the details enough so that he had super posablility and correct body proportions in Bot mode..not to mention his cool spaceship mode, and the fact that a Victory Leo Masterpiece transformer with combination capabilities would really ramp up the Masterpiece series.. but sadly i think the G-1 line will fall off after the movies popularity hits japan..

I think the Masterpiece line will start to include the movie transformers.. simply because of popularity, and complexity..its 2007, and the Japanese have seen just about every robot jet and gundam type bot ever made.. these new designs for Transformers, heavy with kibble, highly complex transformations and such will be the hottest thing in Japan toy market ever!! I mean I can see them going to the lengths of Gundam kits for these movie bots..Not that it would ever make it over here.. lets face it we don't want to build our toys and paint them, we want them already built and painted with super detail... gundam was cool, but model making just isn't in the US market..Gundam would have survived had they made a line of Leader or voyagert class bots in detail.. and sold them like Martvel legends..

Still my final opinion:

MP-07 Thundercracker
MP-08 Rodimus Prime
MP-09 Ultra Magnus Complete
MP-10 Galvatron

After that I see the end of the Masterpiece G-1 line, the movie line will have dominated the market, and Masterpiece Movie TFormers will be coming out.. thats my prediction..

Nujevad wrote:Soundwave would be nice, if he came with a full compliment of show accurate tapes as well.

How about one step further - a Masterpiece release that had the accompanying tapes separately?

skywarp-2 wrote:[...]and they even produced more cartoons based on Rodimus Prime[...]

Which cartoons? Are you talking about the first half of Headmasters?

So, that's two more MP's to add to your wishlist: Star Saber and Victory Leo!

Leonardo wrote:

skywarp-2 wrote:[...]and they even produced more cartoons based on Rodimus Prime[...]

Which cartoons? Are you talking about the first half of Headmasters?

So, that's two more MP's to add to your wishlist: Star Saber and Victory Leo!

Yeah the first half of the head masters cartoon.. I mean they continued it..even in a small way, they still contiunued it...

Yeah i guess, but My list doesn't count, this is what they should or probably will do.. I just feel a sense of doom for this masterpiece line, I just don't think it will continue much longer due to the BT series monopoly on the best cars forms.. I mean lets face it, why buy an 80s model of a transfomer when the 2000 version in BT or alternators is soo much cooler and up to date..

And the Movie Transformers which will be coming out in Japan will probably dictate that the market is screaming for a Masterpiece release of Movie Convoy, Megs and such..

Which will knock the G-1 nostagia and Masterpiece production line off track..

Its sad, but I think thats how it will go.. similar to what happened to the classics line and the reissue line..

I'm just hoping we get Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus complete, Thundercracker, and Galvatron before the G-1 line dies..

I doubt they will ever do Soundwave, though popular, he's got an MP-3 player version already out, and the original G-1 version kinda said it all.. and what more coulds you do to him that would make him better, except for articulation, and extra casseticon space in the chest.. other then that... why him over Galvatron, or Rodimus?? those guys were the leaders of the second generation war..

don't get me wrong, i want a Soundwave masterpiece, I just don't see it coming.. thats all.. and its because of the movie bots..I think the Masterpiece line will do away with G-1 and if we get news one day that a Masterpiece Movie bot is coming, i will rejoice and be depressed at the same time.. because I know that with the coming of those movie Masterpiece toys will be the end of G-1 Masterpiece.. and that will suck..

[

I think the Masterpiece line will start to include the movie transformers.. simply because of popularity, and complexity..its 2007, and the Japanese have seen just about every robot jet and gundam type bot ever made.. these new designs for Transformers, heavy with kibble, highly complex transformations and such will be the hottest thing in Japan toy market ever!! I mean I can see them going to the lengths of Gundam kits for these movie bots..Not that it would ever make it over here.. lets face it we don't want to build our toys and paint them, we want them already built and painted with super detail... gundam was cool, but model making just isn't in the US market..Gundam would have survived had they made a line of Leader or voyagert class bots in detail.. and sold them like Martvel legends..

..[/quote]-----------------------------------------------
I would love to build and paint my own Transformer, if they had the kits. I wouldn't be too skilled Kitbashing the old fashioned way, so I would need a kit instead.

ok, one last thing... how long do you guys think the MP line will go? Will it be destroyed by the Movie line? Or will it continue because of the G-1 connection? will we see victory, headmasters, zone masterpieces? Will we see Transformer Movie Master pieces? Will Cybertron, energon, armada, RID, or BW become masterpiece lines some day? Will there evr be any 2nd tier autobots made for the MP line? What are your thoughts on the future of this line of Transformers, is it safe? Will it be doomed to failure...?? Can takara/Tomy afford another change to the MP toylines designs like they did with MP-03 Starscream?

It won't end for all eternity any time soon, I don't think, but I'm almost certain we're not going to see any Victory or Zone pieces.

Leonardo wrote:It won't end for all eternity any time soon, I don't think, but I'm almost certain we're not going to see any Victory or Zone pieces.

I agree, but Starsaber and victory Leo would be cool.. but like you said, its porobably not likely.. I still think G-1 is doomed because of the Bayformers..I think Takara will eventually stop the g-1 stuff and do the movie bots.. and I think that will come around MP-09

As awesome as an MP Triplechanger would be, I have a feeling that it would disappoint a lot of people. With the complexity of the MP figures to begin with how nearly impossible would Blitzwing be to transform? There were like 14 steps to transform Starscreams' arms for cryin out loud. OK Ok I exaggerate, but I think the MP Triplechangers would try to accomplish too much and suffer for it. I love the MP line based on the figures I have, and anticipate Skywarp greatly. I would love an MP Octane, because he is like the most neglected of the Triplechangers.
Plus, I think that the 'icon' status is highly highly subjective. PErsonally, I don't find Ultra MAgnus to be all that iconic. Same with Cliffjumper and Ramjet in the Classics line. Myself as a fan, I don't care about Prowl or Hound, but Ironhide I couldn't argue with. Galvatron to me isn't so iconic as basically he's devolved into the standard Megatron upgrade. I love the Seekers in every form, but the original three were iconic, not the Coneheads. Like Devastator is an icon, the individual Constructicons are not. Just my opinion, anyway.
I do like the movie robots, but I wouldnt call any of them masterpiece worthy. I'd hate to see this line slide in to larger more expensive versions of current characters.
As far as my thoughts on a future masterpiece, I vote for Shockwave.

skywarp-2 wrote:

Leonardo wrote:It won't end for all eternity any time soon, I don't think, but I'm almost certain we're not going to see any Victory or Zone pieces.

I agree, but Starsaber and victory Leo would be cool.. but like you said, its porobably not likely.. I still think G-1 is doomed because of the Bayformers..I think Takara will eventually stop the g-1 stuff and do the movie bots.. and I think that will come around MP-09

But I think it might also depend on the popularity of the movie bots. If they are not really popular, then I think they might continue with the G1 stuff. Or they could even start a whole new line for the movie bots, and keep the MP line for the G1 robots instead.

Zombie Starscream wrote:

skywarp-2 wrote:

Leonardo wrote:It won't end for all eternity any time soon, I don't think, but I'm almost certain we're not going to see any Victory or Zone pieces.

I agree, but Starsaber and victory Leo would be cool.. but like you said, its porobably not likely.. I still think G-1 is doomed because of the Bayformers..I think Takara will eventually stop the g-1 stuff and do the movie bots.. and I think that will come around MP-09

But I think it might also depend on the popularity of the movie bots. If they are not really popular, then I think they might continue with the G1 stuff. Or they could even start a whole new line for the movie bots, and keep the MP line for the G1 robots instead.

tHATS CERTAINLY A POSSIBILITY.. My gut reaction is saying the Japanese are gonna go absolutely friggin bananas over the robot designs.. I mean they are still making predator, and Aliens stuff and that movie series debuted like 1977 or something like that!! And not to mention Elvis is still thought of as cool.. And they still make the Batman from the 1990s movies...these robots are gonna be huge over there.. they look nothing like what Japan has had before, they are way kibblely and very detailed.. this is the making of engineering challenges that takara and Japanese toy makers simply live for... i mean who wouldn't want to attempt to create those bots..


AND BY THE WAY!!!!!! I WOULD LOVE TO SEE "GUNDAM KIT", MASTER GRADE AND PERFECT GRADE TRANSFORMERS!!!!! THAT WOULD BE FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!

I highly disagree with you skywarp. G1 will never die as long as transformers is a brand.

The nostalgia factor is somethign hasbro wants to keep. sure we may not be their "target" audiences, but they sure as hell want us to buy their product.

Why do you think they have homages and even redone versions of some of our favorite g1 characters in almost every line since g1? To sell the toy to not only kids, but to another group that collects these things like its a religious practice. They appreciate our business to them, because we in a sense help Transformers be such a strong brand even since it was created in 1984. I think many of us here can agree that there are those of us here who grew up in g1 or g2, and have been collecting (on and off) since, not only do we keep doing business with them, but down the road you'll probably have kids, and guess what toys you'll want to get him? TRANSFORMERS. you're doing hasbro's adverstising jobs partially for them by introducing your own kids into the brand. Which brings me to my next point...

I think it would be very wrong for someone to think Hasbro doesn't care about us, because quite honestly they do, but they also care about $$$, and will make decisions that sometimes the fans will have a hard time understanding (in some over-zealous cases, the person will never understand).

Sure I'm not all that thrilled with some of the stuff they do, but thats not to say it isn't obvious they want our business and want to keep us happy.

my examples:
-The classics line and Alternators line

-Botcon/Otfcc

-Homages in other tf lines (hell look at how well beast wars took off with the fan base! It only got better when they started referencing g1, as far as $$$sales$$$ goes.)

-The Live action film (some decisions were made to tailor to the fan such as casting cullen and welker, despite welker only getting megatron's part in the game)

-The live action movie's game. Seriously... Activision is truly tailoring to the fans, having cullen and wlker reprise their famous roles, doing away with the emphasis on the humans in the movie, etc.

-the current generation 1 inspired comics (although this would be a no brainer, as comics on old series are alot of the times easy to sell.)

Now I realize i might sound like a Hasbro suck up, but honestly, looking at all they've done, its quite difficult to say that generation 1 will ever disapeer, its been 25 years, and chances are if Transformers is still around in another 25, G1 will not have been forgotten.

{end rant/speech}

Head Shot wrote:I highly disagree with you skywarp. G1 will never die as long as transformers is a brand.

The nostalgia factor is somethign hasbro wants to keep. sure we may not be their "target" audiences, but they sure as hell want us to buy their product.

Why do you think they have homages and even redone versions of some of our favorite g1 characters in almost every line since g1? To sell the toy to not only kids, but to another group that collects these things like its a religious practice. They appreciate our business to them, because we in a sense help Transformers be such a strong brand even since it was created in 1984. I think many of us here can agree that there are those of us here who grew up in g1 or g2, and have been collecting (on and off) since, not only do we keep doing business with them, but down the road you'll probably have kids, and guess what toys you'll want to get him? TRANSFORMERS. you're doing hasbro's adverstising jobs partially for them by introducing your own kids into the brand. Which brings me to my next point...

I think it would be very wrong for someone to think Hasbro doesn't care about us, because quite honestly they do, but they also care about $$$, and will make decisions that sometimes the fans will have a hard time understanding (in some over-zealous cases, the person will never understand).

Sure I'm not all that thrilled with some of the stuff they do, but thats not to say it isn't obvious they want our business and want to keep us happy.

my examples:
-The classics line and Alternators line

-Botcon/Otfcc

-Homages in other tf lines (hell look at how well beast wars took off with the fan base! It only got better when they started referencing g1, as far as $$$sales$$$ goes.)

-The Live action film (some decisions were made to tailor to the fan such as casting cullen and welker, despite welker only getting megatron's part in the game)

-The live action movie's game. Seriously... Activision is truly tailoring to the fans, having cullen and wlker reprise their famous roles, doing away with the emphasis on the humans in the movie, etc.

-the current generation 1 inspired comics (although this would be a no brainer, as comics on old series are alot of the times easy to sell.)

Now I realize i might sound like a Hasbro suck up, but honestly, looking at all they've done, its quite difficult to say that generation 1 will ever disapeer, its been 25 years, and chances are if Transformers is still around in another 25, G1 will not have been forgotten.

{end rant/speech}

I could not agree more. The beginning, the history of Transformers, where it all started, will never be forgotten, so long as there are Autobots/Cybertrons and Decepticons/Destrons. As long as the brand itself exists in some capacity, in the US or in Japan...there will ALWAYS be a demand for Gen 1.